Battery cell mounting apparatus and method therefor

ABSTRACT

An apparatus mounts a battery cell stack to a frame that includes a base cover and a pair of side covers respectively extending from both ends of the base cover. The apparatus includes a support member to support the battery cell stack, and two films, wherein one side of each of the two films is respectively attachable to one of the pair of side covers of the frame, and another side of each of the two films is respectively attachable to one of two side surfaces of the battery cell stack, wherein, when the support member and the frame move toward each other, the two films are movable into the frame, and the battery cell stack is movable along the two films to be mounted to the frame.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/765,611, filed on May 20, 2020, which is a national phaseentry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No.PCT/KR2019/002243, filed Feb. 22, 2019, published in Korean, whichclaims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2018-0061626 filedon May 30, 2018 in the Republic of Korea, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for mounting abattery cell, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method formounting a battery cell, which allows a battery cell stack to be mountedto a frame without deforming the frame.

BACKGROUND ART

As technology development and demand for a mobile device have increased,demand for a secondary battery as an energy source has rapidlyincreased. Conventionally, a nickel-cadmium battery or a hydrogen ionbattery has been used as the secondary battery. However, a lithiumsecondary battery is recently widely used because charging anddischarging is free due to rare memory effect in comparison with anickel-based secondary battery, a self-discharge rate is very low, andan energy density is high.

The lithium secondary battery mainly uses a lithium oxide and acarbonaceous material as a positive electrode active material and anegative electrode active material, respectively. The lithium secondarybattery includes an electrode assembly in which a positive electrodeplate and a negative electrode plate, respectively coated with thepositive electrode active material and the negative electrode activematerial, are arranged with a separator therebetween, and an outermember, that is a battery case, which seals and receives the electrodeassembly together with an electrolyte solution.

The lithium secondary battery includes a positive electrode, a negativeelectrode, a separator interposed therebetween, and an electrolyte.Depending on which material is used for the positive electrode activematerial and the negative electrode active material, the lithiumsecondary battery is classified into a lithium ion battery (LIB) and apolymer lithium ion battery (PLIB). Generally, an electrode of thelithium secondary battery is prepared by applying the positive ornegative electrode active material to a current collector made ofaluminum or copper sheet, mesh, film, foil, or the like and then dryingthe same.

In a secondary battery, a battery cell stack may be mounted to frames ofvarious shapes. Here, if the frame has a U shape, it is not easy tomount the battery cell stack to the frame.

FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b) are diagrams for illustrating a method ofinserting a battery cell stack into a U-shaped frame.

Referring to FIG. 1 (a), an inner length L1 of the U-shaped frame 1 isidentical or extremely similar to an entire length L2 of a battery cellstack 2, and namely, there is substantially no clearance. Here, thebattery cell stack 2 is inserted into the U-shaped frame 1 in a statewhere a side cover 4 of the frame 1 is deformed to spread outward byapplying an external force to the side cover 4 of the U-shaped frame 1outward. However, in this method, the U-shaped frame 1 may bepermanently deformed, and the U-shaped frame 1 may be distorted.

Referring to FIG. 1 (b), since the inner length L1 of the U-shaped frame1 is longer than the entire length L2 of the battery cell stack 2, apredetermined space 5 is formed between the U-shaped frame 1 and thebattery cell stack 2. By doing so, the battery cell stack 2 may beeasily mounted to the U-shaped frame 1. However, due to the space 5between the U-shaped frame 1 and the battery cell stack 2, it is noteasy to fix the battery cell stack 2 to the U-shaped frame 1, and thespace utilization of the battery module is low since the total volume ofthe battery module increases.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

The present disclosure is designed to solve the problems of the relatedart, and therefore the present disclosure is directed to providing anapparatus and method for mounting a battery cell, which may allow abattery cell stack to be mounted to a frame without deforming ordistorting the frame.

Also, the present disclosure is directed to providing an apparatus andmethod for mounting a battery cell, which may prevent the spaceutilization of the battery from deteriorating.

In addition, the present disclosure is directed to providing anapparatus and method for mounting a battery cell, which may allow thebattery cell stack to be mounted to the frame without damaging thebattery cell stack.

Technical Solution

In one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatusfor mounting a battery cell, which mounts a battery cell stack to aframe that includes a base cover and a pair of side covers respectivelyextending from both ends of the base cover, the apparatus comprising: asupport member to support the battery cell stack, and two films, whereinone side of each of the two films is respectively attachable to one ofthe pair of side covers of the frame, and another side of each of thetwo films is respectively attachable to one of a two side surfaces ofthe battery cell stack, wherein, when the support member and the framemove toward each other, the two films are movable into the frame, andthe battery cell stack is movable along the two films to be mounted tothe frame.

Also, the apparatus for mounting a battery cell may further comprise apressing member configured to move toward the support member at aposition spaced apart from the support member to press one of the twoside surfaces of the battery cell stack.

In addition, the pressing member may include: a movable rod; at leastone rotating roller coupled to the movable rod and configured to contactone of the two films at one of the side surfaces of the battery cellstack; and a driving force transmission source coupled to the movablerod to transmit a driving force to the movable rod.

Also, the two films may be insulation films.

In addition, the apparatus for mounting a battery cell may furthercomprise a double-sided tape by which each of the two films may beattachable to the frame or the battery cell stack.

Also, the apparatus for mounting a battery cell may further comprise apush member configured to push the frame toward the support member.

In addition, the apparatus for mounting a battery cell may furthercomprise a heat conduction member couplable to the battery cell stack.

Meanwhile, in another aspect of the present disclosure, there is alsoprovided a method for mounting a battery cell, which mounts a batterycell stack to a frame that includes a base cover and a pair of sidecovers respectively extending from both ends of the base cover, themethod comprising: attaching one side of each of two films respectivelyto one of the pair of side covers of the frame; attaching another sideof each of the two films respectively to one of two side surfaces of thebattery cell stack; moving a support member supporting the battery cellstack and the frame toward each other; and moving the battery cell stackalong the two films to be inserted into the frame.

Also, the method may further comprise moving a pressing member towardthe support member at a position spaced apart from the support member topress one of the two side surfaces of the battery cell stack.

Advantageous Effects

In embodiments of the present disclosure, since the battery cell stackis mounted to the frame along a film, the battery cell stack may bemounted to the frame without deforming or distorting the frame.

Also, since no space is formed between the frame and the battery cellstack, it is possible to prevent the space utilization of the batteryfrom deteriorating.

In addition, since the battery cell stack is inserted into the framewhile sliding along the film, the battery cell stack may be mounted tothe frame without being damaged.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b) are diagrams for illustrating a method ofinserting a battery cell stack into a U-shaped frame.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing that a battery cell stackis separated from a frame.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing that a film is attached to theframe.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view showing the apparatus for mounting abattery cell according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are diagrams for illustrating a process of mounting thebattery cell stack to the frame by the apparatus for mounting a batterycell according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

BEST MODE

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Priorto the description, it should be understood that the terms used in thespecification and the appended claims should not be construed as limitedto general and dictionary meanings, but interpreted based on themeanings and concepts corresponding to technical aspects of the presentdisclosure on the basis of the principle that the inventor is allowed todefine terms appropriately for the best explanation. Therefore, thedescription proposed herein is just a preferable example for the purposeof illustrations only, not intended to limit the scope of thedisclosure, so it should be understood that other equivalents andmodifications could be made thereto without departing from the scope ofthe disclosure.

In the drawings, the size of each element or a specific part of theelement may be exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated forconvenience and clarity of a description. Thus, the size of each elementdoes not entirely reflect the actual size of the element. A detaileddescription of well-known functions or elements associated with thepresent disclosure will be omitted if it unnecessarily obscures thesubject matter of the present disclosure.

The term, ‘combine’ or ‘connect’ as used herein, may refer not only to acase where one member and another member are directly combined ordirectly connected but also a case where one member is indirectlycombined with another member via a connecting member or is indirectlyconnected.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing that a battery cell stackis separated from a frame, FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing thata film is attached to the frame, and FIG. 4 is a schematic side viewshowing the apparatus for mounting a battery cell according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

In this specification, a battery cell stack 600 may be mounted to aframe 500 to form a battery module. The frame 500 may have variousshapes, and for convenience of explanation, as shown in FIG. 2 , theframe 500 will be described as including a base cover 510 and a pair ofside covers 520 extending from both ends of the base cover 510. Forexample, the frame 500 may be formed to have an approximate “U” shape.Here, the approximate “U” shape does not necessarily have to be the sameas the “U” shape but includes all shapes similar to the “U” shape.

Referring to FIG. 4 , an apparatus 10 for mounting a battery cellaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a supportmember 100. Also, one side of the film 700 is attached to the frame 500,and the other side of the film 700 is attached to the battery cell stack600.

The support member 100 supports the battery cell stack 600. That is,referring to FIG. 4 , the battery cell stack 600 may be placed on andsupported by an upper side of the support member 100. Here, the batterycell stack 600 may be prepared by coupling a plurality of battery cellsin various ways. For example, a plurality of battery cells may beattached to each other by a double-sided tape to form the battery cellstack 600, and the battery cell stack 600 configured as above is placedon an upper side of the support member 100 based on FIG. 4 . The supportmember 100 may move close to the frame 500. That is, the support member100 may move toward the frame 500 in a state where the battery cellstack 600 is placed thereon, or the frame 500 may move toward thesupport member 100. In this regard, a predetermined power source may becoupled to the support member 100 to move the support member 100 towardthe frame 500. Alternatively, the support member 100 may be fixed andthe frame 500 may be moved to the support member 100. However, forconvenience of explanation, the following description will be based onthe case where the support member 100 moves toward the frame 500.

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 3 , one side of each of two films 700 isrespectively attached to one of the pair of side covers 520 of the frame500. Here, the film 700 may be attached to the side cover 520 of theframe 500 in various ways. For example, the film 700 may be attached tothe side cover 520 by using a double-sided tape. However, the method ofattaching the film 700 is not limited thereto. Also, referring to FIG. 4, the other side of each of the two films 700 is respectively attachedto one of two side surfaces of the battery cell stack 600.

As described above, the film 700 may be attached to the battery cellstack 600 in various ways and, for example, the film 700 may be attachedto the battery cell stack 600 by using a double-sided tape. However, themethod of attaching the film 700 is not limited thereto. That is, oneside of the film 700 is attached to the side cover 520 of the frame 500,and the other side of the film 700 is attached to the side surface ofthe battery cell stack 600.

If the support member 100 moves toward the frame 500 in a state wherethe film 700 is respectively attached to the side cover 520 of the frame500 and the battery cell stack 600, for example if the support member100 moves upward based on FIG. 4 , the film 700 is also moved into theframe 500. In addition, the battery cell stack 600 may move along thefilm 700 to be mounted to the frame 500. That is, since the battery cellstack 600 is smoothly inserted into the frame 500 while sliding alongthe film 700 having a low coefficient of friction, the battery cellstack 600 may be mounted to the frame 500 without being damaged.

Here, the film 700 may be provided as an insulation film 700. Asexplained later, after the film 700 is inserted into the frame 500together with the battery cell stack 600, the film 700 remains in theframe 500 in contact with the battery cell stack 600 without beingremoved. In addition, since the film 700 is provided as the insulationfilm 700 and remains inside the frame 500, it is not necessary toseparately perform insulation coating on the side cover 520 of the frame500. Accordingly, the insulation coating process of the frame 500 isexcluded, thereby shortening the overall process time and reducing thecost.

The pressing member 200 moves toward the support member 100 at aposition spaced apart from the support member 100 to press a sidesurface of the battery cell stack 600 to which the other side of thefilm 700 is attached. That is, the pressing member 200 presses the sidesurface of the battery cell stack 600 so that the battery cell stack 600is smoothly inserted into the frame 500.

The pressing member 200 may include a movable rod 210, a rotating roller220 and a driving force transmission source 230. The movable rod 210contacts the side surface of the battery cell stack 600 via roller 220and presses the battery cell stack 600 (see FIG. 5 ). To this end, themovable rod 210 may have a height corresponding to the height of thebattery cell stack 600 based on the direction in which the battery cellstack 600 is supported by the support member 100. That is, the movablerod 210 may be provided to have a length equal to the height of thebattery cell stack 600, without being limited thereto. In addition, themovable rod 210 is provided to be movable toward the battery cell stack600 at a position spaced apart from the battery cell stack 600. At leastone rotating roller 220 is provided to be coupled to the movable rod210. In addition, at the side surface of the battery cell stack 600, therotating roller 220 contacts the film 700 attached to the side surfaceof the battery cell stack 600. In addition, if the support member 100moves toward the frame 500 in a state where the film 700 and the batterycell stack 600 are pressed by the pressing member 200, the battery cellstack 600 and the film 700 also move toward the frame 500, and therotating roller 220 is rotated in association with the movement of thefilm 700. By doing so, the frictional force between the pressing member200 and the film 70 may be relaxed. The driving force transmissionsource 230 is coupled to the movable rod 210 to transmit a driving forceto the movable rod 210. The movable rod 210 may be moved toward thebattery cell stack 600 or away from the battery cell stack 600 by thedriving force transmitted from the driving force transmission source230. Here, the driving force transmission source 230 may be provided invarious ways and may include various motors or cylinders, for example.

The push member 300 may employ various jigs, mechanisms or devices thatare adapted to push the frame 500 toward the support member 100 toprovide a pressure to the frame 500. The push member 300, for example,contacts and presses the base cover 510 of the frame 500 (see FIG. 6 ).That is, if the battery cell stack 600 placed on the support member 100is moved to the frame 500 so that the battery cell stack 600 is insertedinto the frame 500, the push member 300 presses the frame 500 to fullymount the battery cell stack 600 to the frame 500. For example, if thebattery cell stack 600 moves toward the frame 500 in a state of beingplaced on the support member 100 so that the battery cell stack 600 isinserted into the frame 500, the push member 300 pushes the base cover510 of the frame 500 so that the battery cell stack 600 is fully mountedto the frame 500.

A heat conduction member 400 may be coupled to the battery cell stack600. Referring to FIG. 4 , for example, the heat conduction member 400may be coupled to the upper side of the battery cell stack 600 based onFIG. 4 . If heat conduction member 400 is mounted to the battery cellstack 600, the heat conduction member 400 may be interposed between theframe 500 and the battery cell stack 600. That is, since there is noneed to separately mount the heat conduction member 400, the assemblingwork becomes easy and the assembling process is simplified. Here, theheat conduction member 400 may include various members capable ofdischarging the heat generated at the battery cell stack 600, andincludes various heat dissipating members.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are diagrams for illustrating a process of mounting thebattery cell stack to the frame by the apparatus for mounting a batterycell according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Hereinafter, a method for mounting a battery cell according anembodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference tothe figures.

As described above, the frame 500 to which the battery cell stack 600 ismounted will be described as including a base cover 510 and a pair ofside covers 520 respectively extending from both ends of the base cover510.

First, referring to FIG. 3 , one side of each of the two films 700 isrespectively attached to one of the pair of side covers 520 of the frame500. That is, two films 700 are attached to the pair of side covers 520,respectively. Here, the film 700 may be attached in various ways, andfor example, the film 700 may be attached to the side cover 520 by usinga double-sided tape.

Next, referring to FIG. 4 , the battery cell stack 600 is placed on andsupported by the upper side of the support member 100. Here, the supportmember 100 is provided to be movable toward the frame 500.

Next, referring to FIG. 4 , the other side of each of the two films 700attached to the frame 500 is respectively attached to one of two sidesurfaces of the battery cell stack 600. Thus, one side of the film 700is attached to the side cover 520 of the frame 500, and the other sideof the film 700 is attached to the battery cell stack 600.

Next, referring to FIG. 5 , the movable rod 210 coupled to the drivingforce transmission source 230 of the pressing member 200 moves towardthe support member 100 at a position spaced apart from the supportmember 100, so that the rotating roller 220 of the pressing member 200presses the side surface of the battery cell stack 600 to which theother side of the film 700 is attached. Since the pressing member 200presses the side surface of the battery cell stack 600, the battery cellstack 600 may be smoothly inserted into the frame 500.

Next, referring to FIG. 6 , the support member 100 and the frame 500move close to each other. That is, the support member 100 moves towardthe frame 500.

Next, referring to FIG. 6 , the battery cell stack 600 moves along thefilm 700 and is inserted into the frame 500. Here, the push member 300contacts the base cover 510 of the frame 500 and presses the frame 500so that the battery cell stack 600 is fully mounted inside the frame500.

Meanwhile, the film 700 is interposed between the side cover 520 of theframe 500 and the battery cell stack 600 in a state of being attached tothe side cover 520 of the frame 500 and the battery cell stack 600, andthe film 700 is not removed even after the battery cell stack 600 ismounted to the frame 500. Here, since the film 700 may be provided asthe insulation film 700, it is not necessary to separately performinsulation coating or the like on the side cover 520 of the frame 500.

The present disclosure has been described in detail. However, it shouldbe understood that the detailed description and specific examples, whileindicating preferred embodiments of the disclosure, are given by way ofillustration only, since various changes and modifications within thescope of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the artfrom this detailed description.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present disclosure relates to apparatus and method for mounting abattery cell and is particularly applicable to an industry related to asecondary battery.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for mounting a battery cell, whichmounts a battery cell stack to a frame that includes a base cover and apair of side covers respectively extending from both ends of the basecover, the apparatus comprising: a support member to support the batterycell stack, and a film, wherein one side of the film is attachable toone of the pair of side covers of the frame, and another side of thefilm is attachable to one of two side surfaces of the battery cellstack, wherein, when the support member and the frame move toward eachother, the film is movable into the frame, and the battery cell stack ismovable along the film to be mounted to the frame.
 2. The apparatus formounting a battery cell according to claim 1, further comprising: apressing member configured to move toward the support member at aposition spaced apart from the support member to press one of the twoside surfaces of the battery cell stack.
 3. The apparatus for mounting abattery cell according to claim 2, wherein the pressing member includes:a movable rod; at least one rotating roller coupled to the movable rodand configured to contact the film at one of the side surfaces of thebattery cell stack; and a driving force transmission source coupled tothe movable rod to transmit a driving force to the movable rod.
 4. Theapparatus for mounting a battery cell according to claim 1, wherein thefilm is an insulation film.
 5. The apparatus for mounting a battery cellaccording to claim 1, further comprising: a double-sided tape by whichthe film is attachable to the frame or the battery cell stack.
 6. Theapparatus for mounting a battery cell according to claim 1, furthercomprising: a push member configured to push the frame toward thesupport member.
 7. The apparatus for mounting a battery cell accordingto claim 1, further comprising: a heat conduction member couplable tothe battery cell stack.
 8. The apparatus for mounting a battery cellaccording to claim 1, further comprising: two pressing members onrespective sides of the battery cell stack and configured to move towardthe support member to press the two side surfaces, respectively, of thebattery cell stack.
 9. A method for mounting a battery cell, whichmounts a battery cell stack to a frame that includes a base cover and apair of side covers respectively extending from both ends of the basecover, the method comprising: attaching one side of a film to one of thepair of side covers of the frame; attaching another side of the film toone of two side surfaces of the battery cell stack; moving a supportmember supporting the battery cell stack and the frame toward eachother; and moving the battery cell stack along the film to be insertedinto the frame.
 10. The method for mounting a battery cell according toclaim 9, further comprising: moving a pressing member toward the supportmember at a position spaced apart from the support member to press oneof the two side surfaces of the battery cell stack.
 11. The method formounting a battery cell according to claim 9, further comprising:attaching the film to the frame or the battery cell stack with adouble-sided tape.
 12. The method for mounting a battery cell accordingto claim 9, further comprising: moving a push member to push the frametoward the support member.
 13. The method for mounting a battery cellaccording to claim 9, further comprising: moving two pressing members onrespective sides of the battery cell stack toward the support member topress the two side surfaces, respectively, of the battery cell stack.